GENEVA. March 2 (Interfax) - The United Kingdom and France could join the existent treaties on strategic offensive weapons if there is a political will, but there is none for now, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"As for joining the existent treaties - anything is possible if there is a political will. However, that would require consultations, talks to create the respective framework," Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday in response to a question on whether the UK and France might join the strategic arms agreements.
"Still, I do not see political will of the kind," he said.
Ryabkov added that Russia did not see the readiness of the UK and France to join negotiations on strategic offensive weapons. "In fact, they are highly sensitive to the very idea of placing their potentials under control-and-verification mechanisms, they seem to view theirs as special, isolated from everything that happens in the turbulent modern world. We do not think so," he said.